Belagavi woman assault case: BJP fact-finding team, NCW differ on police probe

Belagavi: Three teams from Delhi - the BJP fact-finding team and teams from National Commission for Women (NCW) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes - on Saturday separately visited the victim of the assault case at Vantamuri village and the Kakati police station to gather first-hand information about the heinous incident.

The 42-year-old tribal woman was subjected to assault, stripped and paraded naked by kin of a girl from another community, who had eloped with her son.

The BJP team and the one from NCW, however, differed on the police investigation into the case.

NCW member Delina Khongdup, on the sidelines of her visit to the victim at the Belagavi district hospital, told reporters, “We cannot tolerate such inhuman treatment of the woman. The police probe into the incident is going in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, the BJP fact-finding team comprising MPs Aparajita Sarangi, Sunita Duggal, Locket Chatterjee, Ranjitha Koli and party national secretary Asha Lakhra, took a swipe at the Congress government in the state.

“We have come to Belagavi to get first-hand information of the incident following a direction by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president J P Nadda. We will obtain information on the incident from all angles and submit a report to the party,” the BJP team said.

The Karnataka High Court has taken the incident seriously. But the police are not responding to it properly. The incident happened very close to a police station, but the police went to the spot after two hours. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah didn’t bother to visit the victim despite the fact that the legislature session is going on in Belagavi. This shows the mindset of the ruling Congress, they charged.

The BJP MPs, however, dodged the question on why the party didn’t form a fact-finding committee for the Manipur incident, in which two women were paraded naked by rioters. R K Dubey, Amruta Solanki and Radhakant Tripathi, members of the National Commission for STs, also visited the hospital and interacted with the victim. They were accompanied by social welfare department joint director Laxman Babali.